A stored procedure is a set of SQL statements that can be stored in a database and reused as a single unit. It is commonly used to encapsulate a set of operations that can be used over and over again in multiple contexts.
For example, a stored procedure could be used to insert data into a table. This procedure could be used every time new data needs to be added to the table, without having to write the same code over and over again. The procedure could be called with a single line of code, which would then execute all the necessary steps to insert the data.